"I began training with Tri-Star in August of last year," said MacDonald in an exclusive interview with Fightline. "I trained here part time, but I moved here and began training here from British Columbia about a year and a half ago. Training with Firas has been awesome and all the other coaches have been really beneficial. By training here I have specialized coaches for MMA, boxing, strength and conditioning, wrestling, etc. Another benefit is all the top training partners that come here. It's a great opportunity to train with GSP and Kenny Florian."
Success has come very early to MacDonald and if you are looking from the outside in he has made it look easy. There haven't been too many fighters who have risen up the ranks of the UFC in the same fashion MacDonald has. It has been very surprising to some, but not so to others.
"I've been training since I was very young and I fell in love with it," MacDonald offered. "From the very beginning I set goals for myself so I am not surprised that I have accomplished all that I have up until this point. One of my main goals has always been to be original and exciting at the same time. I want to win and entertain the fans all at once. I believe I am on the cutting edge of the sport and the future is very bright."
MacDonald's opponent has just one fight inside the Octagon and that came at UFC 138 last April against Chris Cope. At 14-4 Mills is slightly more experienced than MacDonald, but he has not faced the same caliber of opponents that Rory has. MacDonald is the prohibitive favorite, but he knows that this is MMA an anything can happen. To him he just wants to fight and being in the co-main event has no bearing on how he will perform.
"I really don't know all that much about him," explained MacDonald. "That's how I like it, the less I know the better. I normally don't do a lot of research or watch a lot of video of my opponents past fights. I just kind of react to what I see in front of me. All I can do is worry about myself and making sure that I am in shape and prepared for anything and everything. My coaches are the ones who set-up my game plan and they train me accordingly. I can tell you that he is a kickboxer and that's about it to be honest with you. It doesn't matter to me if I'm in the main event or co-main event or on the undercard it's still a fight. I don't let the pressure get to me."
